


the moon and the stars and all in between

by ChildOfLight



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-27 13:10:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13881540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChildOfLight/pseuds/ChildOfLight
Summary: It was a calm, quiet evening in Akaashi's apartment. He was sitting in his kitchen, sipping chamomile tea and enjoying his peace. Looking out of the window, he watched the curtain-covered windows of the opposing apartment building. Then, he saw it.He set down the tea cup and rubbed his eyes. No. Way.One of the apartments didn't have their curtains closed, and in the faint light from the room Akaashi saw a steaming cauldron.A steaming cauldron that was illegal in this part of the city.





	1. where did you lose the sun

**Author's Note:**

> No illegal cauldron business for Akaashi.
> 
> I'll add more tags as I update, but there's the basics.

It was a calm, quiet evening in Akaashi's apartment. He was sitting in his kitchen, sipping chamomile tea and enjoying his peace. Looking out of the window, he watched the curtain-covered windows of the opposing apartment building. Then, he saw it.

He set down the tea cup and rubbed his eyes. No. Way.

One of the apartments didn't have their curtains closed, and in the faint light from the room Akaashi saw a steaming cauldron.

A steaming cauldron that was illegal in this part of the city.

 

 

Akaashi, once a witch full of great potential, was now a mere human. In a world divided in two, magical and non-magical, he had chosen the non-magical and given up the life he once had. His vast tea collection had replaced his magical herbs, and his charms lectures switched to Japanese literature. And that's how he liked it.

So how DARE someone brew illegal potions with an illegal cauldron in HIS apartment block?

Before he could even think about, his feet had carried him outside and up the stairs of the other apartment building. He stopped in front of the door he believed to be of the apartment in question, but halted his hand that was ready to knock. Why exactly had he given up magic and moved here, in the middle of the most non-magical city district? Wasn't it precisely to stay out of anything magical?

Akaashi withdrew his hand. So, he wouldn't confront them head on, but he had to do something.

That something being cutting out letters of old newspapers and gluing them to read out a message. Ah, the old classic.

I **s** e _e_ _y_ o **U**.

Looking at his handiwork, Akaashi nodded in determination. You won't mess with him!

Later than night Akaashi went back to the building and pushed his letter through the mail slot. He ran down the stairs and stopped to listen. Soon the sound of a door opening followed, as well as a small "what?", before the door closed. Akaashi waited a little longer before heading back to his apartment.

 

Next morning comes with the annoying beeping of his alarm clock. As he's preparing his morning tea and breakfast, Akaashi takes a look at the window from the day before, but the curtains are shut tightly and look no different to the other windows of the building. He shrugs and finishes off his breakfast.

Just because he doesn't see them do illegal stuff, doesn't mean they're not doing anything illegal, he muses on his way to university. He wasn't sure what he'd thought to achieve with his letter, but he didn't know what else to do. When he gave up his magic, he gave up being a part of the magical world, so it's not like he can report them or anything.

Sighing deep, Akaashi takes a seat at the lecture hall for his biochemistry lecture. A little while after his sort-of friend, Tsukishima, flops to the seat beside him and immediately rests his head on the table.

"Tired?" Akaashi inquires. Tsukishima groans.

"I was up all night because of some shenanigans my boyfriend had with his best friend. Don't ask, you don't wanna know." Over the shared biology courses they had had, Akaashi had learned that Tsukishima wasn't much of a talker, unless it was 8 in the morning and he didn't have coffee because the only places to get it from on his way to class were all Starbucks' which Tsukishima had declared a war against.

"Coffee shouldn't have sugar in it. Or anything that's not coffee." was his reason, told with a frowning face, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Akaashi didn't had the heart to tell him that Starbucks' Caramel Frappuccino was the only coffee he was able to get down.

"Oh?" Was all he answered. Akaashi didn't know much of Tsukishima's boyfriend, Kuroo, except that he had a best friend and they wrecked havoc together every other day. Not harmful, just annoying, according to Tsukishima. How Tsukishima had ended up dating such person, Akaashi didn't quite understand, but he knew he didn't have enough information of Tsukishima and certainly not of Kuroo to make any conclusions.

The lecture finishes eventually, Tsukishima whispering "oh thank god" to himself as people start packing up. Akaashi's ready to go, asking if Tsukishima's up to having lunch with him.

"Sure. Somewhere with coffee."

They end up heading to the university cafeteria, which is actually quite good, and has cheap coffee. Akaashi quite likes spending time with Tsukishima, and not just because he doesn't really have any other friends so far in the area. He finds most people in his other classes annoying, too loud or just plain uninteresting, not really being into the idea of reaching far out to give them a chance to prove his judgment wrong, but not flat out rejecting it either. Tsukishima, however, seemed to appreciate his silence just as much Akaashi appreciated his. They clicked on some level of budding friendship, and Akaashi was interested to see where it would go.

Which will today be not that far,  because as they step outside, the sky bursts open with the heaviest rainfall Akaashi's ever seen. Except, wait a minute... He's definitely seen this kind of sudden downpour somewhere. The slight green tint of the clouds give it away too, much to his disliking.

Magic.

Akaashi just glares at the sky as Tsukishima flounders to cover from the rain.

He's sure of it. Someone nearby is magical, and is overflowing with magic. It happens from time to time, especially when trying to cast a rather strong spell. Doing that forces the witch to gather large amounts of magic power from the nature, resulting in it sometimes overflowing. If the person is one of the university students, as you'd think they would, it's not unusual for that to happen. What is unusual, is the place. No magic wielder should come this close to non-magical area of people with the possibility of that happening.

Akaashi snaps out of it and runs after Tsukishima, now furious. Magic in his non-magical life, again? What the heck? Can't they just leave him alone? What has he done?

Suddenly the downpour dies down. Tsukishima and Akaashi stare at the now beautifully clear skies.

"I," Tsukishima starts. "I think I'll just go home now."

"Yeah." Akaashi answers as they slowly part their ways, puzzled by the experience.

 

It wasn't that weird, though, right? Akaashi mused by himself, stirring his cup of tea and looking absentmindedly out of the kitchen window. The nature of magic was that only a skilled eye can see the signs of it, surely Tsukishima just thought it as a weird but totally natural weather phenomenon. Right?

It was then when he saw movement in his, out of focus, field of vision. The same window from yesterday had its curtains open again, and this time not only curtains but the whole window too. Akaashi ducked behind his curtains and peered out. At first he didn't see anything, but then a person with spiky white hair appeared to the window, followed by a another person, this time with black hair and lots of tattoos, if Akaashi saw correctly. They both threw something liquid out of the window, something with a green glow that made the patch of grass under come to life and start growing faster than the rest of the quite yellow grass.

Akaashi sighed. So, he had witches as his neighbours, illegal or not, liked he it or not.

He decided to give up for the day and head to bed. He brushed his teeth, counting the seconds, shut off all his lights and went to bed. He fell asleep quite fast, but into a restless dream of magic sparkles and disappointed voices that kept waking him up as the night went on. When the morning sun lighted up the whole apartment, Akaashi had had enough. With last evenings exhaustion in his eyes he walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water. As he was sipping that said water, he walked up to the window and looked out. He didn't see it at first, but after a while he realized someone was stepping down a patch of ridiculously well-grown patch of grass and weeds.

Oh.

As the memories of last night flooded to his head, the person, with black hair and lots of tattoos, turned around and looked him straight in the eye, clearly seeing him.

Oh, fuck.


	2. evening star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akaashi's ventures into illegal cauldron business continues. So does Tsukishima's hate for sweet coffee.

Akaashi abandoned his glass of water, grabbed a jacket, crammed some shoes on and ran outside. It was too early to think, but not too early to act, apparently. The person was still there, watching Akaashi come closer. He was quite tall, taller than Akaashi, his black his black hair was A Mess and he had multiple tattoos all over his arms. Now that Akaashi was closer, he could see they were magical seals. The person stood still, watching Akaashi. The grass kept growing under his feet, some of it already touching his fingertips.

"What you're doing is illegal, you know." Akaashi began. The person chuckled.

"What on earth are you talking about?" The grass was now wrapping around his foot. He yanked his foot free as carefree as he could.

Akaashi spluttered. "You can't keep doing this! Not here!"

The person gave up his pretense. "You're clearly a witch, so why haven't you reported us already? I bet you're doing the same thing in your apartment." Akaashi looked away, spotting a resilient dandelion wrapping itself around the other persons leg.

"I'm not a witch." He said. "And this is not a place for witches! Why are you here!"

The person totally ignored his angry outburst. "Ohh."

"What?" Akaashi asked.

"You gave up your magic! Oh wow, I've never met someone who did that. Why?" The genuine curiosity on his face threw Akaashi off.

"Uh, that's not any of your business?" Akaashi tried.

"No, no you have to tell me! I'll tell you what we're doing if you do!" The person offered, still that curiosity wide open on his face. Akaashi was puzzled.

"I don't care what you're doing, all I want is for you to stop and leave! This is a non-magical area, you're breaking the law and I don't want you here!" He yelled. What on earth was this guy's deal? Akaashi huffed and left to get back to his apartment. The person stared after him with a slight pout until he noticed the dandelion wrapped around his whole leg and tried to get free of it.

 

Tsukishima was not having a good day. His best friend, Yamaguchi, was away for the week, and had left his crazy cat for Tsukishima to catsit. He had woken up way too early because the cat had decided that the best thing to do in the early morning is to walk over the person who graciously feeds you when your owner is gone.

So, Tsukishima was tired, on his way to university, clutching a priceless cup of sweet, well actually not sweet, but as a concept sweet, coffee. Waking up early hadn't been that bad because he was able to make that coffee for himself to take with him. He reached the campus, still waiting for his coffee to not be too hot to drink, when he saw Akaashi with the same look of 'the day has only begun but I've been through too much already' on his face as Tsukishima.

Akaashi raised his head when Tsukishima took a seat across him in the university's outside table area. He nodded and resumed back to his book which Tsukishima noted to not be a school book for once. They sat in silence, Tsukishima once in a while trying if his coffee's not too hot to drink until Akaashi closed his book with a thud and a deep sigh.

"Let's go, we'll be late soon." They had another biochemistry lecture thet shared, so they walked there together. Tsukishima's coffee was finally not piping hot anymore, so he prepared to take his first sip of the wonderful liquid. Just as he raised the cup to his lips, however, someone shouted his name. Well, something that sounded kind of like his name.

"Tsukki!"

Tsukishima yelped in surprise as a pair of hands landed on his shoulders from behind. His grip on the coffee loosened up and it fell to the ground into a big mess of once delicious coffee, now just a presentation of Tsukishima's current life.

"Bokuto!" Tsukishima yelled and turned around to face the person, presumably called Bokuto. He was a buff guy, not as tall as Tsukishima but still quite tall, and he had white hair. White hair slicked up into an odd hairstyle, resembling almost horns.

That didn't keep Akaashi's attention for too long, since Bokuto had another person with him. A person with black, messy hair. And tattoos. Akaashi stared in silent horror at the very same person from this morning.

"Uh." he said, silencing Tsukishima's complaints to Bokuto.

"Oh, Akaashi, these are Kuroo," he gestured to the black haired person, "and this is Bokuto, his best friend." he explained, still annoyed about his coffee.

"Aw, Tsukki, am I not your friend?" Bokuto teased with a smirk.

"No." he answered and turned around to go to his lecture.

"Wait," Akaashi realized. "Kuroo as in your boyfriend Kuroo?" His neighbour with illegal witch business was dating his very human friend from university?

"Yes, yes he's my boyfriend." Tsukishima said as Akaashi caught up to him. Kuroo and Bokuto jogged to join them, Kuroo slinging an arm around Tsukishima's.

"Aw, Kei, don't worry, Bokkun will buy you another one, okay?" Won't you?" he said.

"Yeah, of course! Sorry Tsukki, I didn't mean that to happen!" Bokuto exclaimed, his smile not getting discouraged from Tsukishima's annoyed glare.

"They don't sell regular coffee anywhere near that was the whole point of that coffee." he murmured angrily to himself. Kuroo just laughed and ruffled his hair. Akaashi sneaked a glance at him, not really knowing how to act. What did Tsukishima know? Witches weren't supposed to tell non-magical people about magic, but since they were already doing whatever they pleased, Akaashi had no doubts they wouldn't tell everything to Tsukishima. He was now sure Bokuto was the white haired person he had seen out of the window earlier.

Right then Kuroo turned his head to look at Akaashi, making him quickly convert his gaze away.

"So, Akaashi it was? How do you know Kei?" his tone was nonchalant, as well as his body language, but there was a slight edge in his gaze.

"Um, we have biology courses together." Akaashi answered, keeping Kuroo's gaze despite wanting to look at anywhere else than him.

"Oh? Tsukki, I didn't know you have other friends besides Yamaguchi. And us!" Bokuto said yet again teasing him. Tsukishima groaned, but still didn't shrug Kuroo's arm off of him, which surprised Akaashi. It all surprised Akaashi, with the minimal protest to everything Akaashi thought no one was allowed to do to him, from excessive touching to usage of first name. It must mean that their relationship is on steady ground, which made Akaashi slightly nervous because it was with Kuroo, the illegal potion brewer.

 

Kuroo and Bokuto had left them when they reached the lecture hall. Tsukishima had told him Kuroo almost-finished degree which had him come to the university once in a while, but that he didn't take any courses anymore. Bokuto sometimes tagged with him and they'd bother Tsukishima if they saw him or knew where he was. Which Tsukishima didn't bother telling them but they somehow always knew. Akaashi suspected a tracking spell, but admitted to himself that Tsukishima was a creature of habit and that it wouldn't be that hard to guess where in the quite small campus area he could be.

He was currently sitting in his kitchen, again, his time curtains shut tightly and his computer in front of him. Instead of the literature essay in the screen, he was more focused on thinking of Kuroo's offer earlier in the morning. He was starting to get curious of what exactly they were doing and why. But, he was not into sharing his reasons of giving up magic to Kuroo or anyone else, so for now he was out of things to offer in return.

Out of nowhere, Akaashi heard a boom in the outside and after the momentary shock, jumped up to rip his curtains aside. He saw smoke coming out of Kuroo's apartment's window, confirming his suspicions of the source of the noise. He cursed and ran out of his apartment.

Screw it, he had to know what was going on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote Kuroo calling Bokuto Bokkun instead of Bo depite the trend, bc some ppl were saying in Japan no one would call Bokuto Bo and idk Bo was always kinda clumsy to me so here have the much cuter Bokkun
> 
> Also does anyone else have to wait forever before coffee is not too hot to drink? I always have to pay extra to have my coffee as take away bc I dont have time to drink it there :(
> 
> Feel free to comment!


	3. you build your walls too high, now let them fall

He wasn't the only person curious to what had happened, that was clear when he reached the apartment building. He passed people wondering the noise and ran the stairs up to what the assumed was Kuroo's door. He pounded the door, which immediately produced some kind of noise inside the apartment, but no opening of the door.

"Open the door, it's Akaashi!" He wasn't sure how much it helped, but he figured at least he'd now know it's him, who knows about magic, instead of an innocent non-magical person. Well, Akaashi was non-magical, and liked to think innocent, but not for longer, if he kept on involving himself in this business.

The door opened anyway, with Kuroo, hair in an even worse mess than usually, splashes of some kind of potion in his clothes and bit on his face, leaning on the doorframe in fake casualness. "Hey Akaashi! How's it going?"

"What on earth exploded in here just now?" Akaashi demands as he pushes into the apartment. The door closes by itself, making Akaashi's brow twitch.

"Well, you see-" Kuroo started, but gave up any pretense with a sigh when Akaashi gave him a stern look. "Yeah, okay, a potion blew up."

Bokuto's head popped up to take a look from the kitchen. "Huh? Akaashi?"

Akaashi turns to face him. "What are you two doing?" He wanted answers and the sooner, the better.

"Look, Akaashi, I know you don't like this at all, but it's really none of your business-" Kuroo began, walking closer.

"It became my business when you began to do illegal witch business across my apartment! What part of 'non-magical area, where magic is not allowed my law' do you not understand?" Akaashi spat out, getting really annoyed.

Kuroo and Bokuto looked at each other hesitantly, not answering. The gears in Akaashi's head clicked to place as he realized it. "You... it's not just the place you're doing this that makes it illegal... You're doing something illegal! And you're here to not get caught!"

 

A few moments of cleaning and tea making all three were sitting at Kuroo's kitchen table. Akaashi drummed his cup of tea with his finger, waiting for the answers he was promised.

"So, you see..." Kuroo began hesitantly. Akaashi could see his reluctance of telling him, and to be fair he wasn't any more willing to get caught up in witch business, but here he was. But since he couldn't report them to the Council of Magical people, he had no choice.

Kuroo looked at Bokuto in silence, which pissed Akaashi off even more.

"Look, Kuroo, I can see you don't want to tell me but you can be sure I'm not leaving today without answers. You've gone too far! I'm not going to sit around while you blow up this apartment block and date my very much human friend. So please, for all of our sakes, just tell me."

Kuroo looked confused for a moment, before relaxing his shoulders with a sigh.

"I can't tell you much _and before you throw me with that tea cup just hear me out!_ " Kuroo's speech turned into more shrieking when Akaashi downed his tea and pretended to be throwing Kuroo with his cup. Of course he wouldn't, he wasn't a violent person, no. Something about Kuroo just brought out the desire to be.

"Akaashi! Just hear us out!" Bokuto pleaded.

"I made a promise to someone. Bokuto's just been helping me out. We're doing a potion to do a large tracking spell." Kuroo finally told him. Akaashi burrowed his brows in confusion.

"But tracking spells aren't illegal?" he asked. Kuroo sighed.

"It's the all-encompassing tracking spell. To find someone who gave up their magic."

Akaashi's confusion melted away in understanding.

The thing was, that their world was divided in two. There were the magical people, with the knowledge and ability to perform spells, brew potions and channel nature. Then were the non-magical people, who couldn't do any of that. These two groups of people were separated by strict laws that demanded that no non-magical should ever know of magic. Town districts and entire cities were marked as either for magical people, or non-magical people. Outside of their country, other types of magic existed. If Kuroo and Bokuto were to perform this all-encompassing tracking spell, it would break almost all of the laws surrounding the division of magic and non-magic. Normal tracking spells only magical people in the radius of a few kilometers to a few hundred kilometers depending on the magical power. Akaashi sucked in the air he didn't notice he was holding.

"But- you- You know you could like, start a war with that spell?"

Kuroo winced. "You know that's farfetched, people do illegal spells all the time."

"But you know there's a possibility someone out there outside of Japan could feel your spell and be powerful enough to know where it's from! _You know_ magical people are divided and that the peace is unstable!"

"Aren't you yourself breaking the law by mingling yourself in all of this? Since you've given up your powers and all." Kuroo said, but lacking his usual bite. Akaashi deflated and sat back down, not having even realized he had stood up. Bokuto looked at Kuroo and then at Akaashi in confusion.

"What you're not even a witch Akaashi? Wait you gave up your powers? Why?" he said, his curiousity taking over.

"Yeah that's what I asked but he refused to tell." Kuroo said quietly, still looking at Akaashi, who pinched the bridge of his nose.

"And I told you it's none of your business. Can we just please focus on your mess and do something about it so I can continue being a law-abiding, non-magical person in peace."

"Sorry but we're going to do that potion to do that spell, regardless of what you want. I made a promise and I'm not going to break it." Kuroo said and his serious expression was something Akaashi hadn't seen on him before. It stunned him for a moment.

"Then what do you suggest we do? I might not be able to report you to the Magical council, but you can be sure I can find a witch who would do that to me and not rat me out at the same time, I can promise you that." Akaashi said calmly. He could see Kuroo wasn't going to give up, but so wasn't he.

Kuroo stayed silent for a while, thinking. While he was doing that, Bokuto's face lit up.

"Why don't you help us?" Both Kuroo and Akaashi stared at him in disbelief. Soon Kuroo was smirking and looking at Akaashi again.

"Yeah, why not? Just because you gave up your magic, doesn't mean you don't know anything. Help us figure out why our potion keeps blowing up and making grass grow ridiculously fast, so we can keep it hidden from the non-magical people. And with three people, we could probably control the spell enough to not have it be as all-encompassing as the name suggests. What do you say?"

"I..." Akaashi was confused by this sudden change of direction. "I can't help you with the spell? I don't have any magic anymore?"

"Sure you do." Bokuto gave a gentle smile. "What, you think the magic leaves you just because you give up your rights as a witch and stop using magic?"

Akaashi was stunned.

 

Some moment later Akaashi was studying the notebook containing all the recipe variations they had tried. Kuroo sat beside him while Bokuto finally went to assure the people in the apartment block that nothing serious had happened and that everything was under control.

Akaashi traced his finger along the lines of intricate patterns decorating the pages. They were very similar to the tattoos Kuroo had on his body, confirming Akaashi's suspicions. He hadn't been sure before, magical tattoos being that one area of magic he wasn't familiar with. Kuroo's willingness to carry these borderline illegal symbols on his body, risking the chance of getting caught made Akaashi think of the reason he was doing this. Whoever it was for, whoever it was to find, must mean an awful lot to him.

"Tell me more about the tattoos?" he asked. "I'm not very familiar with tattoo magic."

Kuroo looked at the symbol on the page that was open, and twisted his right arm so the palm was pointing upwards. The same picture decorated his wrist, lines swirling around to form a circle filled with distantly leaf-looking figures. "Well, you surely know the basics of magic within tattoos. With potions, they help control certain ingredients, or direct their powers to the wanted direction. For example, this one," he touched the tattoo on his wrist, "is one of my first magical tattoos. You see those leaf patterns, they look like the leaves on Ginkgo trees. Gingko itself is a common herb used in potions, to bring mental clarity to the brewer with potions that take a lot of time and focus. Or, it also works as patience to small kids who are being taught all the boring potions." Kuroo smirks, making Akaashi think he was definitely one of those children.

Kuroo flips a page to another version of the recipe, this time paired with a few other designs. "Here we tried garden valerian, which also works better with a tattoo, for what we want it to do. Usually one tattoo works for different herb species in the same family, but Ginkgo is an exception. This tattoo," he pulled the collar of his shirt, showing a tattoo with small circles all over in different, barely noticeable pastel colours, on his collarbone, "is for the Valerianoideae family, in which the garden valerian belongs to. Valerian can do a lot of things from helping with insomnia and anxiety, to attracting beings with magic in them, which is why we tried it. The tattoo helps to direct it into the direction we want it."

Akaashi hummed as a sign of him still listening. "So it's a new tattoo? Or?"

Kuroo's shoulders dropped slightly. "Ah, no, I tried the insomnia part years ago."

"You're insomniac?"

Kuroo nodded.

"You tried valerian for that?"

Kuroo nodded again. "It didn't really work, but I think I might've done something wrong."

"Oh." Akaashi said. "I think I can help with that, later, if you want?"

Kuroo looked as surprised as Akaashi felt.

"I. Sure? If that's ok with you?" Kuroo answered, still slightly surprised.

"Of course." Akaashi answered, accepting the feeling of hope for a new friendship starting in his chest. Maybe, maybe.

"Wait, you said it attracts beings with magic in them?" he realized after a while.

"Yeah, what about it?" Kuroo answered.

"Why aren't you using the usual tracking spell, if who or what you're tracking has magic in it?" Akaashi asked, now confused.

"Ah, that." Kuroo said. "What we're looking for, is, err, a person who gave up their magic a long time ago. That tracking spell won't work on them. You know Bokkun believes even those who gave up their magic, still have some of it inside of them, so I thought, might as well try it, you know?"

Akaashi nodded. "Yeah, might as well. Let's keep it in the potion, it shouldn't interfere with any other ingredients."

They continued their conversation of herbs and potions long into the evening, only stopping when Bokuto came back with take out, joining them afterwards until the night fell and Akaashi returned to his apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is one slightly longer, as I plan to keep writing longer chapters, but we'll see.  
> About the herbs, everything I wrote there is more or less true. For example, valerian is used to treat insomnia and anxiety, though there's not enough evidence if it really works, as well if its harmful or not. It also attracts cats in the similar way catnip does, that's where i got the attracting part and bent it to fit what I wanted out of it.
> 
> Thank you for reading and feel free to leave a comment!


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